Duerosuchus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Duerosuchus Temporal range: Middle Eocene, | |
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| Skeletal diagram showing known skull remains in white | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Archosauria |
| Clade: | Pseudosuchia |
| Clade: | Crocodylomorpha |
| Clade: | Eusuchia |
| Family: | †Planocraniidae |
| Genus: | †Duerosuchus Santiago and Andrés, 2009 |
| Type species | |
| †Duerosuchus piscator Santiago and Andrés, 2009 | |
Duerosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian. Remains have been found from Corrales del Vino in Zamora, Spain, and are middle Eocene in age (about 40 million years ago). Duerosuchus is known from a single skull that is incomplete but otherwise well preserved, as well as a lower jaw, some osteoderms, and possibly some vertebrae. Duerosuchus is a basal crocodilian thought to be closely related to brevirostrine (or short-snouted) crocodilians, such as alligatoroids. However, the genus was not initially included in a phylogenetic study and its position within Crocodilia was uncertain,[1] until a 2021 study recovered Duerosuchus within the family Planocraniidae.[2]
Remains of Duerosuchus were unearthed by an excavation team from the University of Salamanca. The remains were discovered by Luis Alonso Andrés and his son Luis Alonso Santiago, two amateur paleontologists. The genus was first described by Andrés and Santiago in 2009 and was named after the Duero River, as it was found in the Duero River Basin.[3] The type species is D. piscator, named in reference to its presumed ability to catch fish, inferred from the shape of its teeth.
